But there is one man who may be the next candidate for CEO of a large bank. Dato’ Nazir Razak, 37, is the youngest son of the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia’s second prime minister and the brother of the current minister of defence, Najib Abdul Razak. Dato’ Nazir Razak became CEO of CIMB in 1999 and since then has taken an already successful but boutique merchant bank on to become the most successful in Malaysia.
CIMB floated in 2004, and has also handled (either as lead or number two) the most significant floats in the year including the largest: the ASTRO satellite business. Among a range of initiatives, CIMB has taken a majority share in PT Niaga Sekuritas, an Indonesian merchant bank and securities house. Mr Razak says that he plans to grow Niaga by acquisition in the highly fragmented Indonesian market.
What does the future hold? CIMB is part-owned by Commerce Asset Holdings Berhad (CAHB), which also owns several financial businesses including Bumiputra Commerce Bank (BCB).
Mr Razak is not in any hurry to move on and the current CEO at BCB, Rozali Mohamed Ali, only stepped up to that post a couple of years ago. But CIMB’s regional expansion may be seen as trailblazing on behalf of its big brother which, so far, has limited overseas capacity.
In five to 10 years, Mr Razak may have grown CIMB to the point where it is no longer the minnow in CAHB pond, making his skills at identifying and entering markets prized at the retail bank. Last month he bought the stockbroking assets of Singapore’s GK Goh Holdings.
Risks: As World Trade Organization and bilateral agreements proliferate, both opportunities and threats will develop for regional businesses. But alongside that, foreign ownership in Malaysian securities houses – and probably in due course banking groups – will dilute the home market while Mr Nazir focuses on foreign development. Balancing the objectives of foreign expansion and domestic dominance will be tricky.
